COVID-19 Business Update – 12 March 2021

Business, Update

 

Welcome back to our Weekly Digest.  Read on for the latest updates and some ideas to help us all move forward.

Auckland Back to Alert Level 2, Rest of NZ to Alert Level 1

Early this week, Auckland returned to Alert Level 2 status that involves eased restrictions, allowing diners and shoppers back into stores and meeting with those they don’t live with.  Meanwhile, the rest of the nation can enjoy the freedom of normal life, as they exited Alert Level 2 and moved to Alert Level 1.

Pfizer: NZ’s Primary Vaccine Provider

Vaccination

The government will buy an additional 8.5 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech, bringing the total order to 10 million doses– enough to vaccinate the entire population.

The decision to make Pfizer the primary vaccine provider of NZ was made after it was shown to be 95% effective.  The government started to roll out the vaccine last month and expects to vaccinate all Kiwis by the end of the year.

NZ Opens First Big Vaccination Clinic

NZ has opened its first large vaccination clinic in South Auckland, where initially about 150 people per day will get vaccinated, and then rapidly increased.  Over the next few weeks, two more clinics will be opened in Auckland.

NZ Manufacturing Sales Rise in Q4 2020

Manufacturing sales volumes rose by $142 million to $26.8 billion in the December 2020 quarter, according to official data from Statistics New Zealand.  This represents a 0.5% increase from the September 2020 quarter.

Volumes for dairy and meat products, the biggest export earners, were relatively steady at 0.1% below the September 2020 volume after adjusting for price effects.

COVID-19 Wage Subsidy Payments Started This Week

Applications for the wage subsidy opened last week and payments started to flow on Monday.

This scheme allows employers to continue paying staff and protect jobs that may have been affected with the recent alert level changes.

You can apply to cover the wages of your employees over a 2-week period, and claim $585.80 per week for each full time employee or $350 per part-time employee.

The eligibility criteria can be found here, while the steps on how to apply are laid out here.

Xero Launches Xero Verify

Xero has launched its own authentication app, Xero Verify, to give small businesses world-class data protection. The new app makes it easy for users to set up multi-factor authentication (MFA) on their Xero accounts.

It eliminates the need for codes and sends push notifications to your device for a fast and easy way to authenticate your login.

How it works

When you log in, Xero Verify will send a pop-up message to your phone. All you have to do is to open the notification and tap once to authenticate.

If you lose your device where the authenticator app is installed, you just need to turn off MFA, change your password, and then set up MFA on your new device.

How to Set Up MFA With Xero Verify

Follow these steps to set up MFA with Xero Verify on your device.

Get in touch

Contact us if you have any questions or want to discuss the next steps for your business.